On Monday, May 20th, Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader won his second term as president of the Caribbean island, according to preliminary polling results. Under President Abinader’s administration, the Dominican Republic saw increased regulatory efforts focused on strengthened the regulatory framework of their iGaming industry. 

The recent reelection of President Abinader and the continued regulatory measures taken under his administration have signaled to the gaming industry that the Dominican Republic can expect sustained regulatory impact over the next four years, especially in the iGaming sector.

Earlier this year, on March 26th, the Directorate of Casinos and Games of Chance (for its Spanish acronym, ‘’DCJA’’), a component of the Ministry of the Treasury of the Dominican Republic, published a new resolution (Resolution No. 136-2024) that establishes the new regulatory regime that provides the requirements, administrative fees, and criteria that operators must adhere to in order to obtain an online gaming license.   

Dominican Republic has a long history of gaming, especially with lotteries and horse racing. These two verticals have been operating on the island since 1890 and 1945, respectively. With respect to iGaming, the vertical has been legalized since 2006. However, the approval of the Resolution has strengthened the regulatory framework for iGaming licensing and operation on the island. Simultaneously to the issuance of Resolution No. 136-2024, the DJCA released an illegal internet gambling operations warning notice, which includes two companies and several websites that do not have authorization to operate internet gaming on the Caribbean country, home to 11 million people.